Uno, Due, Tre, Quattro, Cinque, Sei...

In light of this past weekend being Labor Day Weekend, and because my restlessness has not so slowly been increasing lately, I invited a couple girlfriends to go to a wine tasting in horse country yesterday.

The usual happened: saw great views of the hills, drank lots of nice wine, got tipsy, chatted... and then something unusual happened. As we were in the middle of tasting, and the table was right by a path, this couple walked by on the path. The lady was speaking, and it took me a moment to choose between Spanish and Italian, but the consonants were too hard for the former. She just about craned her neck to look at us, and after I mentioned to my friends (and within earshot of my tasting neighbor, who was standing about three inches from my elbow) that she was speaking Italian, I noticed that she was counting. Counting us. "Uno, due, tre, quattro..." I forget how many she counted before she would've had to completely turn around and walk backward as she passed us, but she never finished. We were a group of at least twenty.

In other news, I know vacation season is over, and most people (all people?) have already been on holiday, but some advice from the experts on visiting archaeological sites. I figure it goes well with the topic of my blog, which I've admittedly been ignoring lately, as being green really is all about preservation. Preservation of our planet, our lifestyle (those of us who are fortunate), and our heritage. Read it, and view it, here.

What's With Today, Today? - Lucas. Or, An Exercise In Catharsis

(On a side note - never thought I'd like teriyaki but have now determined to go to Chinatown in LA to try real Chinese for probably the second time in my life, and the first in a decade or so.)

Episode 1:
(She sits in her empty office, reading notes amid a desk piled high with unfinished filing. Enter an email, complete with "you've got mail" beep.)
Got an email from one of my two supervisors today, forwarded from my other supervisor, asking about the status on an official document of which I had physical possession. (It was sitting on my desk, gathering dust). Well, it turns out, unbeknownst to me, the status was a big Incomplete. Long story short, I had to draft a piece of official Navy correspondence, which I'd never done before, and do it quickly. Fortuitously, I had, months ago, cleverly printed out the SECNAV Instruction on Correspondence. The task itself, not so complicated, with a sample layout right in front of me. So I'm pretty pleased that I managed to pull an official correspondence I'd never written before out of thin air in about 20 minutes. It appears work well under pressure.

Episode 2:
(Two coworkers, female, walking up the street to the row of restaurants commonly used for lunching purposes. A third, male, runs up and begins to walk alongside.)
As a friend and coworker and I were walking to lunch, another coworker, who had already eaten and was on his way back to work, turned around and ran back to join us. Even though he'd already eaten, and was unwelcome company, he followed us for at least three blocks. I'm not one to be super nice to people I don't like (it's just who I am - I don't have that virtue they call patience), so I didn't say a lot, while my other coworker chatted with him. She finally, and pretty tactfully, told him we were on our way to a girls' lunch, which he didn't believe at first. Finally he got the hint, and turned around and left.

Really, it was too much.

Episode 3:
(An employee in the logo-ed polo shirt worn by all concession employees walks into her least favorite stand, already expecting a repeat of the slow and decidedly poor evening two nights past)
So I ran late today getting to my second job, because I needed an emergency milkshake, which temporarily replaced the Emergency Margarita, because I can't drink & drive/drink & work. Legally. I can't. I told my supervisor (enough with the supervisors already!) as much. I get there, and the only concession stand I work in during the season is closed, because there aren't enough spectators to see High School Musical. Surprise. I walk over to the other one, and ask the stand manager what registers are open. I'm a cashier/bartender, you see. I've been working here for five years now, and I haven't run (job description: get food for cashier) in probably three of them. The stand manager told me I was running tonight. I exclaimed, to which she said patronizingly (and this is her first season) "You were late, dear".

Here's where, if there are parallel words, like in that old show Sliders (anybody remember that one?), two worlds would have diverged. In an alternate universe, would have been thinking clearly instead of reacting to a Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, I would have explained the situation to the stand manager. Now, after the whole incident is over, I know exactly what I'd say. Well, instead, I went over her head. She didn't like that, and though there wasn't anything she could do about it, she did question our supervisor. Figured out after he asked a couple more questions that somebody extra had showed up, and that's why there were extra cashiers, so I decided to go home, as I wasn't needed.

Now I'm off to make myself a morale-boosting gin and tonic, and hopefully a healthy dinner. Though that depends on what's in the fridge...

The end.

Continuing a Hands-On Education

Found an article this morning on Preservation Nation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's website, which gives hope for the future of skilled craftspeople and the building arts. In fact, I'm personally interested in the American College of the Building Arts, and if I hadn't already received a bachelor's degree and thought I had some (any) talent working with building materials, sketching and mathematics, I'd want to attend classes there.

Because the opposite is true, I'll just pass on the article for others to enjoy:

http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/september-october/hands-on-education.html

Five Morning Must-Haves

1. coffee
2. keys
3. book
4. tissues
5. tide pen

Okay, so I thought this was going to be more interesting than it actually is. Anyway, here are the reasons for my pick-5 picks.

1. There have been times in my life when I have not needed coffee every morning. These past couple of seasons have definitely not qualified. Recently I bought a coffee maker so I can economize a little, and stop buying coffee as I do, even though I know it comes in styrofoam cups (what, that's not reason enough?). This morning, the coffee woke me up, my nose twitching at its delightful scent. Well, that's an exaggeration. But when I finally did wake up, I noticed the faint aroma of brewed coffee. Delicious.

2. Have you ever locked yourself out of your house/apartment? I haven't, not since I was young, agile and desperate enough (what child wants to face a frustrated father the upteenth time she forgot her keys in the morning?) to break into my bedroom window, shimmy up the outside of my bunk bed, climb down and open the door for my partner in crime (a.k.a. my twin brother), without forgetting to replace the screen. However. It does occasionally happen that I switch purses and not all of the day-to-day necessities make it into the chosen one. It is, thankfully, not impossible to get into my office without keys, but it takes more effort. I almost switched purses this morning, but stayed with the usual in the end. Otherwise, my office keys might still be sitting useless in my apartment, 15 miles away.

3. There is always the possibility that a book will come in handy. In fact, I'll amend that to "probability". This may not be true for everyone, but I'm one of those people... a reader. Besides, you never know when it won't be possible to read the Express over someone else's shoulder on the train. Today's choice: The Cloudspotter's Guide, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.

4. This one needs little explaining for those who know me. I have allergies, therefore I always need tissues. Not to mention they make acceptable replacements for napkins.

5. For awhile now I've had a coffee maker in my office. Much cheaper than buying coffee everyday (in styrofoam cups), and easier on the environment because I have my own special work coffee mug in which I drink said coffee. It was given me as a "morale-boosting" gift last Christmas. It's useful. It didn't boost my morale. So, I'm on my second cup of coffee, and before I know it, it's happened. Yes, that's right. I spilled coffee. Again. On my very light, grey-blue linen dress. Which brings me to my final Must-Have of the morning: a Tide pen. Now, instead of an embarrassing brown splotch front and center, it's "What stain, sir?" Okay, the commercial exaggerates a little. It's not perfect. The stain is still visible from a foot away. But (I hope) nobody will be peering that closely at the front of my skirt. I've tried the Shout wipes, too, and they're just not as magical.

So there you have it. The most important five things I need just about every morning.

A 7:45am Change of Heart

Disclaimer: I'm feeling optimistic and sentimental this morning, so if you're not interested in reading about warm fuzzy feelings and the like, Read No Further. Seriously. If you're okay with all that, by all means, continue.

This morning started out in the same way as usual (except that I now have an incredible, wonderful, dear programmable coffee-maker), with too little sleep the night before, getting up way too early - as in, before 6am, which is generally an unbreakable rule I have - and napping instead of eating breakfast.

And yet somehow, I feel different. It's not that last night was particularly good night, or that yesterday was a particularly good day. In fact, a recurring old problem of mine reared its ugly head again yesterday, putting me in a terrible frame of mind. I don't say mood because it was more than a mood.

Recently I came to realize that the past year has probably been the worst I've ever experienced, not counting the year I turned 17. Bored and frustrated at work, I found no solace in going (or being at) home. Quite the opposite, my life at home stressed me out more than anything else. Where do you go when you can't go home?

To get to the point, at some time on my walk to work this morning, my heart turned over. Or grew. I wonder if that's how the Grinch felt when he had his revelation. I can't describe it precisely, only I have my armour back, and nothing can pierce it. I feel the proverbial great weight has been lifted from my broad-but-slender shoulders. Now I have a metaphorical gorget with matching spaulders. I've been trying to convince myself for the past few months at least that life is too short to "sweat the little things" as it were. I sincerely don't want to spend my days fretting over the past year. Having a worrying personality complicates matters, but today just may have changed all that.

So starting today, I'm not going to let anything upset me that isn't entirely worthy of feeling unhappy. Not my knees, not long lines in a hot Dunkin' Donuts, and certainly not rude, obnoxious - make that Toxic - people.

I'm going to enjoy my morning coffee and the light breeze.